Chocolate Is (Not) Universal
by mizutani asuna
Summary: The restoration of New Rome is going well. Things would be going even better if Reyna could get her mind off of Clarisse La Rue. Femslash.
1. Chocolate Is (Not) Universal

**A/N:** For the time being, I've decided to make this a twoshot. Stay tuned. This is mildly AR; Chris and Clarisse were not a couple. Rather, Clarisse/Silena is hinted at.

**Please Note:** I haven't finished HH, but most of what takes place is an open secret. This is Alternate Ending (to the series, not to HH), more or less. Between this and that, I will be contradicting canon.

**Warnings:** Femslash. Don't like, don't read. It's not explicit just yet (most of this is build-up), but it's going to be.

* * *

**Chocolate Is (Not) Universal**

Since Reyna and Nico (and Coach Hedge) had returned the Athena Parthenos, tensions had cooled off between the camps... somewhat. Jason defecting to Camp Half-Blood had raised a lot of questions, and even a few months later, the dust hadn't really settled. People didn't know what to think about Jason leaving his camp for another one. It made everyone question the trustworthiness of the Greeks; that girl who was always with him, Piper, was a charmspeaker. Had she forced him to switch sides?

And there were many who were unsure of, or felt resentment toward, a probatio rising to praetor almost immediately. Percy had been one thing—a special case. He was powerful, a son of one of the Big Three; he had Juno's recommendation; and he'd found and restored the Legion's standard. Neptune may not have been the most popular god in Camp Jupiter, but Percy's election had been unanimous.

It was true Frank was a son of Mars, and he'd earnt his father's blessing. He was a loyal Roman, unlike Jason. Reyna would prefer him to Octavian any day, but that was true of most of the Legion. Even with his increased confidence, a lot of people saw their new praetor the same way: for many, he was still Crybaby Frank. If Reyna was being honest with herself, uniting the camp and convincing them to work with the Greeks... even with Frank's help, that had been hard. And the present situation was by no means perfect, either. But at least, with Gaea defeated, it wasn't as easy for people like Octavian and Drew Tanaka to stir up suspicion and paranoia amongst the campers. Reyna and Frank had been working with Percy and Annabeth to ensure the present peace between Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter was a lasting one.

Now technically speaking, Reyna wasn't avoiding Jason. That would be unprofessional. She knew Piper, like her sister Drew, had a way with sorcery; but she didn't believe the rumours, the ones claiming Jason had been forced to switch sides. It was hard for Reyna to admit, because she loved her camp so much—it was her home—but Jason had never been comfortable there. She'd ignored it, convinced herself it was her imagination. Jason had always done everything he could for Camp Jupiter—was there more proof he felt the way she did? Reyna hadn't thought so. Not until... Well, not until she'd been visited by Lady Venus, who had warned her that she and Jason walked different paths.

"He is not who you think he is," Venus had told her, "and it would be childish to continue to insist that I am wrong."

Reyna hadn't understood back then, why it was Venus and not Juno who came to her. It was usually Juno who delivered warnings, maybe Mars or her mother. The war gods, in other words. Why the goddess of love had appeared to Reyna, with news that made it sound like Jason would betray them to Saturn... It made sense now. It had been a matter of love, after all.

Reyna didn't really know Jason—not the way she thought she did. She'd never really listened to him or paid attention to his needs, back when he was still in the Legion. She'd expected him to be a leader, just like everyone else. She'd pushed on him a future he didn't want—and she'd never thought twice about it. When Venus confronted her with the truth—that Jason was not the person she wanted him to be—she felt ashamed, and lonelier than ever.

Her only friend, and he'd never been honest with her, never opened up to her. He'd never felt that he could rely on Reyna. Trust her, maybe, but it wasn't the same thing. When she realized that the bulk of their friendship was built on lies, that it was one-sided on her side... she distanced herself.

She didn't know Jason, and now she wasn't sure she deserved to. By the time she built up the courage to get to know him for real, Piper McLean had moved in, and Jason had started to distance himself from Reyna. He'd made friends, even met his sister, since going to Camp Half-Blood. He was happy there; she'd have to be an idiot not to see it. But just because she wasn't blind to Jason's real self anymore... that didn't mean she liked how things were. She'd managed to become friends with Annabeth, but seeing Jason still left her feeling hollowed out.

She wasn't avoiding him, but she _was_ doing everything she could not to think about him. It helped that, as praetor, she was as busy as ever.

* * *

Reyna had noticed the Greek camper, Clarisse La Rue, for awhile now. She'd been helping Annabeth oversee the repairs and restorations being made to New Rome for the last couple of months. Leo might have blasted New Rome to smithereens in a day, but building it back up would take time.

It was looking good so far. Reyna had heard Annabeth called the Architect of Olympus, and she was starting to see why she'd gotten the job. Annabeth had a good eye for design. With luck, the Roman campers would have a home to go back to shortly. Until then, they remained scattered in the mortal world.

Except for Reyna. She had stayed at Camp Jupiter, along with her fellow praetor Frank, to help supervise the Romans' teamwork with the Greeks. All Reyna wanted was for things to go right for a change.

Which brought her to Clarisse. The Ares girl was hardworking, and strong, all right. She didn't seem to do anything halfway. But there was this nervous energy about her, like she was always distracted. At first, Reyna had thought it was just ADHD—it was more common with the Greeks than the Romans—and she overlooked it. But after working with her for awhile, the more Reyna got to know Clarisse, the more she began to think there was more to it.

She learned from Annabeth that Chris Rodriguez—Clarisse's closest living friend—had died during the war. Her only other friends had died in the previous one, and Clarisse hadn't taken Chris's death well. Clarisse was a good leader, but she'd been snappy, even tense, like it was taking everything she had not to pick a fight. Reyna had seen her talking to Nico di Angelo in hushed tones a couple of times, and she wondered what that was about; but knowing Nico, she didn't think they were up to anything. Still, Percy had told her children of Ares were more violent and impulsive than children of Mars, and that worried her.

She'd kept an eye on Clarisse, just in case. She didn't like that unstable, manic look in her eyes, though Percy claimed it was just Clarisse's usual glare.

* * *

One day, Reyna decided she'd try to talk to Clarisse. Maybe she could defuse the time bomb before it even started ticking.

Clarisse was in her element: ordering other people around. "Hey, Valdez, pick up the pace! Solace, get your butt to the forum! I don't know what for! Because apparently, Annabeth wants a useless—"

"Hello," Reyna calmly interrupted.

Clarisse turned her head to glare in Reyna's direction. "Ramirez? What do you want?"

"Reyna," she corrected. "I don't use my surname."

"Whatever," Clarisse grunted, not really interested. "You have something to say to me?"

"Actually, yes. I was wondering, would you like a cup of hot chocolate?"

Clarisse averted her eyes. "I don't like chocolate," she replied, no hint of an explanation forthcoming.

"Are you sure?" Reyna raised an eyebrow. "It's pretty cold out—"

"Are you trying to pick a fight with me?"

"No." Reyna backtracked immediately. "But you've been working very hard to help restore my camp. I thought I'd show my appreciation by—"

"Yeah, well, noted. Now, if you don't mind, I've got work to do."

Clarisse turned her back to Reyna, and went storming off after a couple of campers who were slacking off, to remind them what they were here for.

* * *

"Is she always so..." Reyna searched for the right word.

"Hostile?" Annabeth supplied.

It was evening. They were eating dinner, watching as the sun set after another hard day's work. Aurae were serving food like it was a circus, but Annabeth barely even noticed them anymore.

Annabeth chewed her food slowly, while she deliberated what to say. "It's not your fault," she began. "Clarisse has never taken to anyone straight-away. Even Silena—she was her best friend—had to jump through some hoops before Clarisse really took her seriously. Percy knows her better than I do, I think. We were never that close. But..." Annabeth bit her lip.

Reyna furrowed her brow. "What is it?"

"I think it was because you mentioned chocolate. Everyone knows she hasn't eaten anything chocolate since Silena's death. Silena's dad owned a chocolate factory," Annabeth explained, "and Clarisse and she used to drink hot chocolate together, it was their thing. If I remember correctly, Clarisse made Silena a cup... just before she sacrificed her life for the camp."

Reyna exhaled. "I see. So I reminded her of... her best friend's death," she said carefully, making sure she had the facts right.

Annabeth nodded. "That's my best guess. With Chris's death still so fresh, any reminder of Silena's death would be extra hard on her, I imagine."

"I see..." Reyna replied, sipping her hot chocolate pensively. "So what _does_ Clarisse like?"


	2. Social Interaction (Is So Much Work)

**A/N:** Okay, new plan. This was originally going to be a two-shot, but now I have no idea how long it's going to be. This part just kept getting longer and longer, so I've decided to divide it into two, which means this is going to be a three-shot at the least. But since I can't seem to keep my word, I'm not going to make any promises about the length of this thing.

I tried hard not to make Clarisse too OOC in this, but let me know what you think.

Anyway, sorry for the wait! Here's Part 2! Reviews appreciated.

**Please Note:** This fic is AR. In this continuity, Clarisse/Silena was canon, not Chris/Clarisse, and Chris died in the Second Giant War. Octavian is alive, Leo is at CHB, and Solangelo is also nonexistent because I wrote the first half of this before _Blood of Olympus_ came out.

**Warnings:** Femslash on the horizon. Don't like, don't read. It's not explicit just yet, but it will be (if I ever finish this damned thing).

* * *

**Social Interaction **  
**(Is So Much Work) **

Nico di Angelo had told her summoning the dead wasn't a good idea, even for the son of Hades. He knew what it was like to have someone close to you die, but bringing them back wouldn't solve anything. And if Silena had gone to Elysium, there was a chance she had chosen rebirth. It was possible he wouldn't be able to find her even if he did agree to help.

Clarisse wasn't having any of that—she yelled and threatened and shook him up and down, but none of that seemed to faze him. Clarisse was much bigger than him, but after surviving Tartarus, she didn't seem able to intimidate him anymore.

It wasn't that she felt _guilty_, she kept insisting. It was just that...Silena was better at this "emotions" stuff, and she needed someone to talk to, and... And okay, it was a little because she felt guilty. But only a little.

It was her fault Silena was dead. She knew it. But here she was, dishonoring her memory and falling in love with someone else. She felt like such a traitor, and all she wanted to do was bash her skull in with a locker door, like some loser in a chick flick. (She'd never admit it, but Silena had gotten her to watch quite a few of those.)

If she could just _talk_ to Silena...but she couldn't. Silena was gone. Now Chris was gone, too. How could she move on? How could she do that? It felt so wrong. She told herself it was her Ares code of honor. She definitely wasn't getting sentimental or soft or some shit. She was probably going mad; after what happened with Chris a few years ago, she liked to think she knew something about madness. She certainly _felt_ crazy.

The girl she liked was basically the Roman version of Silena: the black hair, the love of hot chocolate, the way with pegasi. She wasn't the typical in-your-face, hotblooded warrior, like you would've expected from a war god's kid. She wasn't loud and proud, like the Ares and Athena cabins. She had a quiet sort of courage, a silent determination that never faltered. Nobody else saw it, but to Clarisse...Reyna was like Silena reborn.

She was less girly. More pragmatic than airy. She was a different person than Silena, with a different past, and different fears and flaws. But it was the things that the Roman shared with Silena that had made Clarisse fall for Silena in the first place, and now...Clarisse would be lying if she said she wasn't attracted to Reyna. But given all that she had in common with her ex-girlfriend, Clarisse couldn't help but fear that she was subconsciously trying to replace her. She didn't want that—she didn't want to treat Silena like she was an old T-shirt she'd outgrown.

She'd never told anybody but Silena about her secret fear: that she couldn't really care about other people. For so long, she'd either hated or been apathetic to everyone she met. She didn't connect to other people. She'd never let it show, but it had really bothered her. Even her friendships with Percy and Annabeth—if you could call them that—were grudging. She wasn't ever really close to anyone until Silena and Chris, and being a girl in the Ares cabin wasn't exactly a charmed life.

She'd finally gone to Nico for help after she caught herself fantasizing about Reyna in the middle of the night. Nico had just given her an unambiguous "No," with his usual irritated look, like, _Lady, I have my own gay angst to worry about. Bugger off._

That left...Annabeth. Clarisse wasn't sure how she felt about asking some straight chick about having feelings for another girl—she'd probably try to be all supportive or something gross like that, and that was _so_ not what Clarisse needed right now—but then, it would be too awkward to talk to Percy about this, and Annabeth _did_ kind of write the book on demisexuality. If anyone would understand how confusing it could be to have all your feelings aimed at one person, only for them to die and have your feelings switched to another target, it would be Annabeth. What she went through with Luke and Percy wasn't so different from Clarisse's situation with Silena and Reyna—and okay, Clarisse did _not_ want to think about that, because looking at boys in a sexual way? Yeah, _how about no. _

But maybe she could still talk to Annabeth—if she could keep the conversation steered far away from Jackson. She shuddered at the thought of Annabeth getting all hyper-focused and going to that place where he was all she could think about. Clarisse felt like she was going to throw up just picturing it. _How disgusting._

"Speak of Hades," Clarisse muttered.

Annabeth was on her way to the Greek's (temporary) barracks, returning from dinner with Reyna. They were lingering outdoors, probably discussing something Clarisse wouldn't care about, like what a beautiful night it was or how great Roman food tasted. It would be something dumb and polite and sentimental. Mindless chit-chat, in other words.

Clarisse didn't really care for small talk, so it was all she could do to tap her foot impatiently and pace around while she waited for them to get it over with. Barging over and interrupting them would only look suspicious, and she'd already made a scene today talking to di Angelo. She didn't want to give people any more reason to be curious, or they'd start thinking they could stick their noses in her business.

Finally, Reyna left.

"Annabeth," Clarisse grunted. Sounding casual, apparently, did not come naturally to her.

"What's up, Clarisse? Is there a problem?" Annabeth asked.

Clarisse blinked. "What?"

It took her a minute to remember that she and Annabeth hadn't ever really spoken casually before. They might've put aside their differences during wartime, but when they weren't discussing battle strategy or some campers who'd gotten out of line, they didn't seem to talk much at all. Annabeth probably didn't expect Clarisse to come to her for personal advice, and Clarisse couldn't say she blamed her. She wouldn't even be doing this if Annabeth wasn't _literally_ the last trustworthy person alive.

_Here goes nothing,_ Clarisse thought.

"I need to talk to you," she began. "Alone," she elaborated, when Annabeth waited for her to continue.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "All right," she conceded. "Let's go for a walk."

* * *

Clarisse explained the situation as best she could, trying not to sound too much like a sentimental sissy. She kept glaring at Annabeth, as if to remind her she could still pulverize her if she laughed.

"And so," she concluded, "That's how it is."

Annabeth didn't respond for a moment. She seemed to be considering something—almost like she was weighing her options, like this was a fight she was deciding how to win.

"I see," she hedged. "Hmm."

Clarisse's glare intensified, so that she appeared to be trying to move Annabeth's mouth by telekinesis.

"What?" she finally spat.

Annabeth just gave her an exasperated look, like she was thinking:_ I already date the most impatient person alive, but right now Clarisse, I'm pretty sure you just beat him._

Annabeth shook her head. "This is never going to work," she complained. "You're way too impulsive. I don't know _what_ the two of you are thinking—"

"The _two_ of us?" Clarisse demanded, like she hadn't heard Annabeth properly.

Annabeth sighed, and muttered something that might've been a prayer to the gods for this to be over quickly.

"I don't know what Reyna's thinking, and I can't claim to speak for her, but..." Annabeth shook her head again, like she couldn't believe what she was about to say. "She seems to...Well, if not "have feelings", then "interest" maybe...She seems to be interested in you, too."

Clarisse stared at Annabeth through her bangs.

Hearing an Aphrodite girl liked her was one thing—it had been weird, but not totally unbelievable. Those Aphrodite freaks were always falling in love with everyone, weren't they? And after she became friends with Silena, and started to reciprocate...Well, that hadn't been that weird, after all. Besides, if things went sour, Clarisse could always just claim she'd been seduced by some Aphrodite magic, or some shit. People would believe that, wouldn't they?

But never in a million years did Clarisse imagine someone like Reyna Ramirez-Arellano could like _her_ back. Just a little while ago, Clarisse had thought of her as the enemy, as "that Roman praetor". She'd had zero faith that Reyna would succeed in uniting their camps. And after the war? She didn't even _want_ to help rebuild Camp Jupiter at first. Annabeth had only coaxed her into it on the basis of learning about Roman defenses and fighting styles—that knowledge could be useful in the future, even if she didn't want to admit it. Learning better ways to stay alive had always been the only kind of "learning" Clarisse was interested in.

When she ended up falling for Reyna, she'd meant to find a way to put a stop to it. But if Reyna really liked her, too...

"You better not be making this up, Chase," she threatened, trying to stay in her comfort zone of skepticism and not get anywhere _near_ excitement.

"I'm not," Annabeth said honestly. "We're nearly back to the barracks. You should go talk to her. She's probably still up, it's not that late."

Annabeth pointed out which quarters were Reyna's.

"Thanks, Chase." Clarisse swallowed, like the effort to say those two words was going to make her vomit.

Annabeth left her company, and Clarisse slowly stomped over to Reyna's barracks.


End file.
